Peter Bye – Promoting respect for facts and numbers.

Politics and the excluded middle

October 19, 2020

Society in the UK and the USA is fragmenting into extremes, leaving little room for the middle ground and threatening liberal democracy. Other countries are also experiencing some polarisation, but, as countries that like to see themselves as bastions of democracy, the UK and USA stand out. There are of course differences in the sources… » read more

Posted by pbye

Covid-19 pandemic, Defending democracy, Political structures, UK in Europe, Uncategorized

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Kakistocracy revisted

September 8, 2020

In September 2017, I posted a blog called The rise of the kakistocracy[1] . As I explained there, the word means government by the worst, the most stupid, ignorant and unqualified people. It wasn’t hard to find examples then, such as Venezuela and Zimbabwe, to name just two; it’s even easier today, unfortunately. In 2017,… » read more

Posted by pbye

Covid-19 pandemic, Defending democracy, Political structures, UK in Europe, Uncategorized

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How is the UK coping with the pandemic?

June 12, 2020

The last piece I posted on BlogActiv was on the 30th March[1], a week or two after the UK had gone into lockdown in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. In just over the two months since then, the death toll in the UK resulting from the virus is, at the time of writing, 41,364[2], although… » read more

Posted by pbye

Covid-19 pandemic, Languages & Culture, Political structures, UK in Europe

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Mandate – what’s in a word?

January 6, 2020

The UK’s general election on 12th December resulted in a majority of 80 for the Conservative Party, a larger number than anticipated. Some had expected a much closer result or even a hung parliament. The way is now open for the UK to leave the EU at the end of January. It would take a… » read more

Posted by pbye

Political structures, UK in Europe, Uncategorized

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A sense of perspective

November 11, 2019

As I write, the political parties in the UK are beginning their campaigns for a general election, to be held on the 12th December. It’s the first December general election since 1923; December elections are generally avoided because of the weather and small amounts of daylight. The past few weeks have seen the government agree… » read more

Posted by pbye

Global Europe, Political structures, UK in Europe

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Was the Brexit referendum democratic?

August 6, 2019

Since the referendum, we have heard from many leavers and some remainers that the vote was democratic and we must respect it. In recent weeks, the attitude of the Brexiteers has become somewhat shrill. We are told that the vote represents the will of the people[1]. There is increasing pressure for a second vote with… » read more

Posted by pbye

UK in Europe

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Is liberalism obsolete?

July 23, 2019

In an interview with the Financial Times[1], Vladimir Putin claimed that liberalism was obsolete: ‘…the Russian president said “the liberal idea” had “outlived its purpose” as the public turned against immigration, open borders and multiculturalism’. He made the following statement. ‘This liberal idea presupposes that nothing needs to be done (about immigration). That migrants can… » read more

Posted by pbye

Global Europe, Political structures, UK in Europe

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Truth, lies and freedom of expression

June 6, 2019

The UK has lived in interesting times since my previous post on 20th February. The Brexit date has been postponed twice and now sits at 31st October 2019. Yet another Conservative Prime Minister has been destroyed by the Europe question: Theresa May joins Margaret Thatcher, John Major and David Cameron as the latest victim. And… » read more

Posted by pbye

InfoSociety, UK in Europe

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